


Must be the Summer Heat (That Gives Her That Glow)

by Joley123



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-12 01:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19218421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joley123/pseuds/Joley123
Summary: This is a continuation of a drabble (that I filled on tumblr) that ended up being a oneshot. There were six individual requests for a follow up and also a recent prompt for Nina playing Vanjie in snatch game. Enjoy!





	Must be the Summer Heat (That Gives Her That Glow)

The All Stars Six cast had entered the workroom for the first day of the third episode. Everyone was in good spirits, relieved to have survived the first two eliminations.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa, specifically, were happy to have narrowly avoided outing their relationship. It would have been embarrassing to have blown their cover in week one, especially since their official reconciliation was – as Vanessa had put it the first time around – fresh out the womb. In fact, they had only concretely confirmed their status to each other a week before arriving on set. 

Maybe they would have better luck convincing literally anyone that they were ‘just friends’ if they had time to work out a story beforehand – they were as bad at improv as they were at any other type of acting. Winging it, they supposed, was all they could do. 

This week’s challenge was the Snatch Game – something everyone saw as either a chance at further success or, for people like Brooke Lynn and Vanessa – a chance at redemption. It didn’t take long after the announcement for everyone to rush to their stations and get right into preparations. 

“Who are you gonna do, Nina?” Brooke Lynn asked as he brushed out the wig that he was planning on wearing. 

“Well, I’ll tell you who I’m gonna do…” Nina spoke in her ‘Vanjie’ impression, immediately making everyone laugh, “You know, hopefully it’ll go over better than Roxxxy’s Alaska impersonation, but I think my Vanjie-isms are on point,” he explained in his normal voice. 

Vanessa arched his brow and laughed. “Ima be watching you, bitch. Tread lightly,” he warned, scribbling potential jokes and one-liners for his own character, shifting nervously as he tried to prepare. Clearly his stress was starting to show as he realized Brooke had made his way to his table with a concerned expression. 

Brooke Lynn put his hand on Vanessa’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. “How’re you holding up, Vanj?” he asked gently, sitting beside him. “You feeling more confident this time around?” he asked, despite knowing the answer. 

“Not as much as I should be,” Vanessa confessed quietly, resting his head on Brooke’s shoulder. “This is the shit I still struggle with, you know? I know Ru and everyone else are gonna be looking at me to see how I do. Guess I’m preaching to the choir, but you got some redemption already,” he mused.

He wasn’t wrong, Brooke Lynn knew that as much as Vanessa did. “I know, believe me, I get it. Last time was rough for both of us. But you’ve grown so much, and everyone’s rooting for you no matter what,” he told him. “Besides, you’re too much of a fan favorite to go home this early,” he teased. 

Vanessa laughed, sniffling a little. “Thanks, Brooke. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he hugged him before Brooke Lynn returned to his station. He could do this, he thought. He just needed to get out of his head. 

When it came time to play the game itself, everyone’s nerves appeared to have subsided for the time being – the most important thing was making RuPaul laugh however they could get him to. One act that stood out, unsurprisingly, was Nina, who was able to mimic Vanessa’s mannerisms and vocal inflictions almost to a T. It was almost enough to make Vanessa break character at a few different points. 

At one point in the game, RuPaul asked Nina in character if he had been staying in touch with the other season eleven queens, to which he answered, “Yeah, you know, I still got my Dream Girls. And between you and me mama, I ain’t been kicking Brooke Lynn out of bed either.”

Ru and the two contestants laughed heartily at that. “Oh really?” he egged him to go on – this was almost as good as getting a confession from Vanessa himself. 

“Listen, what happens on tour stays in the hotel rooms. And the dressing rooms. And sometimes the bus when we thought everyone was asleep,” Nina continued, having all but forgotten that Vanessa and Brooke Lynn were both on the same panel, staring at him incredulously. 

### 

“Hey Nina,” Asia called out to him while they were getting ready for the runway. “If you get into the top two and win the lipsync, are you gonna split that ten grand with Vanjie? You’re profiting off of her likeness,” he asked with a light laugh.

Vanessa bristled at the question even without being directly addressed. “It’s the least she could do after blowing up my spot like that. She knew she didn’t need to go for that low blow,” he chimed in as he did his makeup. 

“Nina, girl, you know I love you, but it would’ve been just as easy to do a funny Vanjie impression without having to drag our personal lives into it like that,” Brooke added in a much more calm and gentle tone. 

Asia looked between the three of them oddly. “Wait, so she was telling the truth? I mean, I had my suspicions, but…” his voice trailed off as he gestured vaguely, “I just figured y’all discussed what was gonna go down beforehand,” he shrugged.

Nina looked taken aback, but it was clear he did feel guilty. “Vanjie, I had no idea it would be a sensitive subject for you. We’ve all been joking about it, so I thought it would be fair game. But Asia’s right, I should have asked you for confirmation regardless, and I’m so sorry,” he apologized emphatically. 

“I forgive you,” Vanessa replied curtly. He knew Nina’s apology was sincere, and he did accept it, but he did still feel tense and uncomfortable in a way that only time could heal. 

“Are you alright, Brooke?” Nina asked with a hint of awkwardness in his tone, knowing that Vanessa was still upset.

Brooke nodded, doing his best to seem poised and unphased. “I’m not mad, I understand that you got carried away,” he replied even though, in reality, he was just doing his best to stay strong so neither Nina nor Vanessa felt any worse. 

That had been the end of their storyline for that episode. All of them survived to the next week, and the pressure was building even more. They were all starting to feel the heat. Perhaps that was why after they got to a challenge that they were both safe in, Brooke Lynn and Vanessa managed to sneak away while the focus stayed on the winners and losers. 

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, Brooke Lynn,” Vanessa confessed. “It was one thing to compete when everyone knew we had our thing going on, it’s different when we’re trying to hide it. It’s just another fucking thing we gotta worry about, like we don’t fucking have enough to deal with,” he vented. 

Brooke frowned sympathetically and wrapped an arm around him. “Baby, I get it. It’s hard for me too. I’d much rather be able to hug and kiss you whenever I want. But this is what we agreed to do if we didn’t want to have that narrative again. Then when all is said and done, we can pick up where we left off and love each other on our own terms.”

Vanessa sighed and curled up against Brooke Lynn. “You say shit that’s smart and makes sense, and I want it to change how I feel, but I just…” in an impulsive act, he suddenly sat up and kissed him deeply, cupping his face with both hands and pouring out every single feeling of longing and need over the past few weeks into that one kiss. 

And Brooke couldn’t have fought his feelings if he tried. His arms wrapped around Vanessa’s waist and pulled him close. He had missed this – missed him – more than he realized. He wouldn’t go so far as to say love was more important than winning, but he’d be damned if he couldn’t ignore Vanessa’s feelings, let alone his own. If he was going to give in to their desires, he was glad they could do it alone, sequestered from their friends and the harsh eye of the camera. 

“Anyone see where Brooke Lynn and Vanjie went?” Asia asked offhandedly, looking around without realizing he was in earshot of the couple. 

As nonchalantly as possible, Vanessa and Brooke returned from their impromptu reconciliation-slash-makeout session and joined the group. “What happened?” Brooke asked as casually as he could. All he received in response, however, was a bunch of confused stares. “Is there something on my face?”

“Other than most of Vanjie’s lipstick?”


End file.
